Earnings of the Baltic List companies

  • 2000-01-20
Estonia

The insurance company Hansapanga Kindlustus collected 120.1 million
kroons ($7.87 million) in premiums last year, down by 3.6 percent
from 1998.

Estonia's first pension fund, the Hansa Pension Fund, administered
by asset management company Hansa Aktivate Juhtimise AS, had 3.9
million kroons in assets at the end of last year; and the net value
of a unit was 10.53 kroons.

Uhispanka life assurance division hopes to collect 33.5 million
kroons in premiums this year, a significant increase from last year.

Latvia

Latvijas Unibanka's provisional profit last year was 10.53 million
lats ($18.162 million), the commercial bank's spokesman Haralds
Burkovskis said Jan. 17. In Dec.1999 Latvijas Unibanka earned a
profit of 690,000 lats. In the last year the bank's revenues from the
main business reached 31.52 million lats, up by 40 percent over 1998.
Burkovskis said that total deposits held by Latvijas Unibanka
increased slightly in Dec. 1999 to 194.54 million lats on Dec. 31.
The amount of personal deposits grew by 2.6 percent or 1.29 million
lats to 51.32 million lats late Dec. 1999. Latvijas Unibanka's credit
portfolio did not change much during the last month and was 214.85
million lats as of Dec. 31, 1999. The gross value of the bank's
credit portfolio increased 30.4 percent over 1998. At the end of last
Dec. net credits totalled 203.74 million lats, up by 28.9 percent
over twelve months in 1998. Latvijas Unibanka's assets grew from
19.09 million lats in Dec. 1999 to 335.94 million lats at the end of
the month. During the last year the bank's assets increased 9.6
percent. At the end of 1999 the bank's capital and reserves
constituted 37.05 million lats (up by 39.6 percent from 1998) and the
bank's capital base (Capital, reserves and subordinate capital)
amounted to 47.19 million lats Dec. 31, 1999. Late November last year
Latvijas Unibanka was the second largest commercial bank in Latvia in
terms of assets. The bank's shares are quoted on the official list of
the Riga Stock Exchange.

Latvian oil company Ventspils Nafta is planning to earn 8.7 million
lats ($14.9 million) in net profit in 2000, spokeswoman Gundega Varpa
said. Varpa said such a net profit target is envisaged by the
company's budget for 2000 approved by the company's council. Revenues
from economic operations in 2000 are planned at 37.4 million lats and
expenditures at 26.3 million lats. "The planned decline in VN's
revenues in 2000 is due to expected decline in oil and oil products
reloading volume," said Varpa. She said VN Council Chairman Mamerts
Vaivads and VN President Igors Skoks have described 2000 as a
difficult and tense year for the company given the situation in
Russia and neccessity to retain cargo flows amid sharp competition
between the Baltic Sea region's oil and oil products reloading
terminals. Varpa said that among the factors having a negative effect
on VN's operations are Russia's declared commitment to use domestic
ports for exports, Russia's oil and oil products export quotas and
supply quotas to Russia's processing plants, and the failure to
reintroduce railway tariff discounts for transportation to Latvia.
VN's budget for 1999 envisaged a profit of 15.6 million lats while
revenues from economic operations in 1999 were planned at 48.2
million lats. VN is planning to pay 0.03 lats per share in dividends
for the year 2000, the company said in a statement to the Riga Stock
Exchange. But Latvian Privatization Agency Director General Janis
Naglis told reporters Friday that VN should pay more than 0.03 lats
per share in dividends for 1999 to its shareholders. He suggested the
company pay from 0.03 to 0.06 lats per share in dividends. Last year
the LPA and VN's strategic shareholder disagreed over dividends
payments, with Latvijas Naftas Transit prevailing on the issue. VN's
council endorsed the company's investment program for the period
between 2000 and 2005, envisaging an investment of 93 million lats
spokeswoman Gundega Varpa said. She said from the total investment
29.4 million lats are planned to be made in 2000.

Lithuania

Hermis Bankas, which is now 100 percent owned by Vilniaus Bankas,
made a net profit of 1.526 million litas ($0.38 million) in 1999.
Hermis confirmed the non-audited profit data released by the
Lithuanian stock exchange on Wednesday. The bank itself, however,
will not issue a detailed statement about this. Hermis reported an
audited profit of 412,000 litas for the year 1998. It had set a
profit target of 36.9 million litas for 1999. Hermis posted a net
profit of 17.6 million litas for the first nine months of 1999. It
had reported a 6.9 million litas profit for the first three months
and 13.6 million litas for the first half of the year.

Vilniaus Bankas posted an unaudited net profit of 72.64 million
litas ($18.16 million) for 1999, 1.1 percent more than it had
projected. The bank's 1999 profit was up 21.5 percent from 59.79
million reported for 1998. According to preliminary data, Vilniaus
Bankas was the best performing bank in Lithuania last year. As of
late 1999, the assets of Lithuania's largest private bank totalled
3.32 billion litas, an increase of 20.3 percent over the year. At the
end of 1999, the bank's assets were dominated by net loans
outstanding (55.4 percent), deposits with the Bank of Lithuania and
other banks (21.7 percent), and the securities portfolio (8.9
percent). The bank's income-earning assets amounted to 77.2 percent
of total assets - compared with 69.4 percent a year ago. Vilniaus
Bankas' loan portfolio totalled 1.91 billion litas as of December 31,
a rise of 30 percent over one year. Deposits increased 26.8 percent
to 1.8 billion litas. Individuals' deposits grew 58 percent over the
year to 879.5 million litas. According to the press release, the
large profit determined the bank's good performance ratios: its
return on assets rose to 3.05 percent from 2.68, while its return on
equity was up to 20.29 percent from 19.53 percent.